Astronomy and ghost stories
by raffinit
Summary: Joel and Tess teach Ellie about the stars and ghosts.


**Astronomy and ghost stories**

**I figured that Ellie living in the world and time that she is, probably hasn't really had good and decent ghost stories told to her. I mean, why would you, when you've got real life ghosts living in abandoned buildings down the street, know? And it makes sense for her to be afraid of something like ghosts even if she can shoot a clicker's head off with a sniper rifle from a treetop. **

**People are strange.**

* * *

"What's that one over there?" An arm lifts in the dark shade of blue, a finger points out to the winking stars.

There's a rustle of grass and the crackle of firewood; another arm lifts, larger. "That there's called Big Dipper. Now, y'see that curve out? It's square on that side there, and then it comes up to the ladle like that -." The finger this time traces a shape closely resembling a ladle of sorts.

"Oh, yeah! I see it!" It's eager and high; the girl sprawls out on the grass beside the man, tracing the shape with her own finger. They're all sprawled out in the grass, lounging about after dinner - Joel and Tess promised to teach her about the stars. "What about that one there?"

The woman beside Joel tilts her head up at the sky, resting her hand behind her head as she recalls the names of the constellations and the stars. "I think, if I remember right - that's still part of Big Dipper," she hums, and she takes advantage of the warm and comfy nook of Joel's arm and shoulder by cuddling into it.

Ellie frowns, confused. "But then it's not a ladle anymore...?"

"Big Dipper's part of a bigger constellation," Tess tells her, sighing in content as she wriggles about almost on top of Joel's chest until she's found a comfortable spot, much to the man's amusement. "It's called the Ursa Major - the Great Bear," she clarifies, when both Joel and Ellie turn their heads to stare at her. She supposes she could be offended that Joel is surprised she knows that much, but Tess shrugs.

"I used to go hiking with my Dad. We'd watch the stars sometimes."

Joel stretches out his arms to keep them from getting numb - what with the two of them using him as a personal human pillow, and settles comfortably enough with his hands behind his head. His mouth twitches as he too recalls memories of hikes and summer camp-outs with his father and Tommy; when times were simpler and life was all about impressing girls in high school and sneaking out to drive the Mustang around.

He chuckles aloud at a particularly fond memory, and both Tess and Ellie look up at him curiously. "Heh. Just remembered the time my cousin and I spooked Tommy so hard he pissed through his sleeping bag."

Tess smiles in the fire light. "Bet he loves hearin' you tell that story."

Ellie of course, can't wait to hear it. She pushes herself upright on Joel's chest, oblivious to the way Joel grunts at the shove. "What did you do to him? Did you scare him with a runner or clicker noise?" She almost shudders at the mention of the sound; it's the sound that nightmares are made of, really.

The man chuckles. "Oh, this was way before the runners and clickers, Ellie. This was when I was still in high school -."

"When the dinosaurs still roamed the earth," Tess quips, wriggling when Joel prods at her side in reproach.

"Quit yappin' and lemme tell my story," he grumbles at her, sighing indulgently when Tess snorts a 'yes, Papa Bear' at him. Rolling his eyes, he turns back to Ellie. "As I was saying - my cousin Johnny and I used to sit around the campfire with my Dad and Tommy, and we'd tell ghost stories at night. Y'know; see if we could scare each other silly."

Ellie scrunches up her nose. "Why would you wanna do that?" She can't imagine a world where you'd sit around and scare each other for fun. Her childhood consisted of real life stories - stories of lost friends and families and the dangers that waited on the other side of the wall.

Joel shrugs. "Honestly, I don't know. Guess we used to like to scare ourselves silly; back when we didn't have real monsters to worry about."

Tess is sitting upright now, her eyes gleaming with a terrifying gleam of purpose and mischievous intent. "Ever hear the one about the Shadow man?"

* * *

They spend about another hour or so outside by the campfire; all to Tess' dramatic and intense tale of the Shadow man. Ellie sits tucked into herself, curled into Joel's side as the man rolls his eyes and makes little dry noises in his throat at certain parts of the tale, but the young girl is enamored by the woman's tale.

Enamored, and terrified.

By the time they're packing up to head back inside, Ellie has her nails sinking into Joel's arm with her body practically fused into his side. Even as the man glares at Tess over the girl's head, the woman is smothering a grin and unrepentantly bats her eyelashes at the man when he has to pry Ellie off his arm to send her off to wash up.

"Y'know if she wakes up with a nightmare, it'll be your fault," he mumbles into her shoulder later into the night, when they're settled into bed and she's practically purring in his arms in the afterglow.

Tess hums at him, but it's mostly indulgent as her mind lolls off blissfully into the land of sleep and Joel's arms. She can't be bothered with anything else at this point; he might as well be talking to a wall - a wall of porcelain skin and soft curves. He's actually surprised when she mumbles into his chest. "She'll be fine. She kills things for a living."

Joel's doing that thing where he traces circles along her shoulder and back again; she's not sure if she wants to go to sleep or start another round. Her body reminds her though that she's not as young as she used to be, so she settles with sprawling over his chest more and purring into his chest.

With a long-suffering though indulgent sigh and a little glance upwards to the ceiling, Joel settles into the mattress, pulling Tess closer to him as he too feels the reminder of just how draining it can be to have the woman in his arms making the noises she did.

Just as he sinks into a comfortable sleep though, there's a frantic banging at the bedroom door, and an equally frantic and weepy sounding voice of a teenaged girl coming through the door. "Joel? Tess? There's something in my room!"

Simultaneously they groan, and Joel slides his arm out from under Tess as they both roll out of bed to grab at their clothes. He glares at the woman's bare back as she bends down to snatch up the oversized shirt. "This is your fault," he grumbles, pulling his sweatpants on as if in emphasis before he's striding over to the door.

Tess slips her underwear back on, tugging the shirt down over her thighs just as Joel has the door open. "She wanted to know," she huffs defensively, and then she is suddenly staggering back into the bed with arms full of Ellie. "Hey, whoa, kid - take a breath." She rubs at Ellie's back soothingly, or as soothingly as she can try to, and realizes that the girl is actually shaking a little.

"There's a shadow man in my room!" Ellie swears, and she's already tugging Tess and then Joel towards her room. "Look, it's right there, I swear - he's standing by the window!" It's nearly hysterical, and would probably be amusing to Tess if it hadn't cut into her sleep.

Calmly she extracts Ellie's death-grip from her wrist, tugging the girl still as she stares down at the anxious teen flatly. "Ellie, there's no such things as ghosts. Those were just stories."

"They're fuckin' _real_ and there's one in my room!" the girl cries, and then she's shoving Tess from the back into the room she sleeps in. When she crosses the threshold of the doorway, she makes absolutely sure she's hidden well away from whatever she thinks is in her room; clinging onto Tess' sides and peeking from around the woman's narrow waist.

Meanwhile Joel stands there in the hallway, trying very hard to swallow the laugh he can feel bubbling dangerously in his throat. Hey, Tess started it. "I warned you," he drawls at her, and Tess shoots him a glare over her shoulder before she's flipping on the light switch of the bedroom.

Tess makes a show of inspecting the brightly lit room, peeking under the bed, prodding through the cupboard and lastly checking the windows; all with Ellie still attached to her like a spider monkey. "See," she says finally, sweeping her hand over the room. "Nothing but big ol' Bear and your overactive imagination."

Ellie shakes her head stubbornly; Tess feels her grip tighten on her shirt. "It was _here_," she asserts, and her wide green eyes dart from corner to corner of the room even in the light. "I don't wanna sleep alone!"

By this point, Joel finds this ridiculous. "Ellie, you sleep with a gun under your pillow - if that shadow man got half a brain in that see-through head of his, he oughta know better than to mess with you," he deadpans, although it seems to have the opposite effect that he had intended, because Ellie whirls to him with terrified wide eyes and sputters.

"So he's _real_ then!"

"Oh Christ," Tess groans, sighing heavily in defeat as she ushers the girl back into bed with some struggle. "Alright, you win, Ellie - I shouldn't have told you the stories. Now get in bed and move over." She nudges the girl aside in bed, sighing as Ellie immediately attaches herself to the woman as soon as Tess is comfortable. She raises a brow at the girl. "Y'know for a kid who kicks ass with a gun and a hunting knife, you're being a wuss about this."

Ellie huffs petulantly, pressing her face into the side of Tess' breast. "It's your fault for telling me those stupid ghost stories. Your generation of kids are weird," she mumbles, and squeezes Tess tight when the woman laughs quietly at her. Lifting her head to peer at Joel - who for some reason is just standing there in the doorway with a funny look on his face -, she tilts her head at him.

"Aren't you comin' too, Joel?"

The man chuckles softly, folding his arms and leaning against the doorframe as he eyes them both with amusement. "Y'all seem just fine without me, baby girl." The corner of his mouth curves into a smile when Tess and Ellie roll their eyes at him in a frighteningly similar way, and he flips the lights out before he makes a show of stepping into the room like it's the biggest favor he's ever done them. "Alright, scooch over 'fore your eyes stay that way."

Ellie eagerly makes room for Joel on her other side, nudging him lightly in the shin because her hands are full of Tess. Sighing in content, the girl smiles sleepily; knowing that nothing can get to her now because Joel and Tess kick all kinds of ass - infected and paranormal alike.. "G'night, guys."

Joel rumbles his reply, folding his hands behind his head and smiling up at the ceiling as his eyes slide shut. "G'night, Ellie." The room settles into the darkness and silence again, nothing but the sound of their breaths and the quiet noise of nature outside the window. He's just about out cold again when he feels Tess' hand slide from under Ellie to dig into his bicep again.

He grunts, cracking an eye open irritably. "What now -?"

"There's something in the corner of the room."

Groaning as Ellie squeaks from between them, Joel palms his face in defeat. "God damn it, Tess."


End file.
